Optism™

This week, we’ve got good news all around. We start with a look at some impressive mobile campaigns, including ones from Target and Kentucky Legend Ham. Then we move on to a report on the explosive growth in mobile use in Africa. And we close with reports on last week’s kickoff of the Holiday Shopping season — including a few stats from PayPal and iMedia Connection.

iMedia Connection contributor Chris Wayman provides his picks for “The best mobile campaigns of 2011.” Actually, though, he starts off by cautioning us against “best of” lists when in fact we’re just scratching the surface of mobile’s capabilities. Wayman notes, “Mobile has fundamentally changed how we communicate every minute of the day in countless aspects of our personal and professional lives. The result is a sweeping cultural shift — on a global scale.” He goes on to remind us that the ideal campaign isn’t one that’s focused on a “shiny new object.” The best “take considerable effort, time, and even a reassessment of the value that a brand provides to the consumer.” He then goes on to write about three campaigns that stood out for him, ones that “established a meaningful brand-to-consumer engagement by delivering sustained, personalized value to the consumer.”

The winners for Wayman are Starbucks, JCPenny and Target. Starbucks’ mobile marketing program “successfully blends loyalty, incentives, and commerce.” JCPenny’s program “takes a 360-degree approach by integrating mobile with traditional and digital media.” The retail giant “continually tests and tries new mobile marketing tactics to enhance the consumer experience and establish a deeper relationship” with its customers.

Wayman gives Target the nod for “one of the best holiday mobile campaigns.” The retailer is setting the bar high, with a mobile strategy that includes “text message marketing, 1-D and 2-D codes, consumer shopping apps for all devices, a mobile preference center, and a mobile site with the aim of making shopping at Target an easy and enjoyable experience.” Mobile Marketer’s Rimma Kats was also impressed by Target’s mobile initiatives, and writes specifically about the company’s mobile circular campaign.”

About.com contributor Domenick Celentano takes a look at Kentucky Legend’s great ham giveaway in “Hamming it Up – Mobile Marketing For Consumer Packaged Goods.” U.S. consumers have until December 31^st to try their luck at winning a ham by texting “Legend” to 72727. Janet Sweeney, Marketing Director for Kentucky Legend Ham, believes the ham giveaway “is a great way to create awareness of our Kentucky Legend brand and to give consumers a chance to try one of these outstanding hams.”

ReadWriteMobile provides a link to the “first GSMA Mobile Observatory report to focus on Africa.” This compelling report offers “a comprehensive picture of the African mobile industry” which has become “the world’s second largest mobile market.” Mobile concentration in Africa has reached 57% this year, and is now greater than in Latin America. It continues to grow at an impressive rate – on average 30% per year. While the market is currently dominated by pre-paid voice services, data revenues are poised for significant growth in the near future.

Mobile marketing executive Kevin McGuire shares his ideas on “Why Mobile Marketing Works” on MediaPostNews. According to McGuire, mobile “is a marketer’s dream: an ever-expanding consumer base, nearly round-the-clock access to your target audience and the ability to create more meaningful customer interactions.” He goes on to provide five reasons why mobile is great:

1. Mobile subscribers opt in to receive content, so they are actually primed “to be accepting and responsive to promotions.”
2. Mobile enables an ad experience that is “more interactive and targeted” than consumers could enjoy on any other channel.
3. The vast majority of consumers can be reached via a mobile phone.
4. The size of a mobile phone screen forces marketers to be very “thoughtful” about what they offer up there.
5. Marketers can engage consumers by delivering a personalized experience via the mobile.

Want to know how consumers plan to use mobile this holiday season? Check out Mobile Commerce Daily’s “compilation of mcommerce-related stats.” With lots of data to back her up, author Giselle Tsirulnik notes, “more people than ever before will be using their mobile devices for direct holiday purchases or to aid in gift buying. Mobile is the new way to skip the lines at the malls this holiday season and retailers need to take note for the holidays and beyond.” Zeroing in specifically on PayPal’s 516% volume increase for Black Friday, Mobile Commerce daily writes “the PayPal data proves that consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices for their shopping needs.”

As we get closer to the year’s end, we’re starting to see the pundits’ projections for mobile marketing in 2012. iMedia Connection presents Neal Leavitt’s take in “Mobile Marketing 2012: Sky’s the Limit.” Leavitt provides quotes and estimates from a number of sources to support his belief that the mobile tsunami “should be quite a ride” in 2012.

And finally, TechCentral presents predictions, recommendations and real-world mobile examples from our friend Tomi Ahonen during his presentation at the Mobile Web Africa conference in Johannesburg. Anyone who reads Tomi’s blog knows this man loves mobile! Tomi recommends that companies who are dealing with advertising agencies that don’t have a mobile plan should “get a new agency.” In a comparison of email and SMS messaging, Tomi notes “SMS is literally 720 times faster than e-mail in message-opening throughput.” Did you know that the “average person looks at their phone 150 times a day, or once every six-and-a-half minutes of every waking hour?” Do you?

Tomi warned conference participants that “the future isn’t going to be about mobile only, but about its role in cross-platform interactions.” For Tomi, the future of mobile continues to glow and “there are myriad opportunities to make a fortune for those who get it right.”

Are you using your mobile to shop this season? Let us know. You can reach us on Twitter @Optism or join the conversation on our Facebook page.